Part II: Policy instruments for sustainable road transport

Without questioning the fact that to achieve efficiency emitters should pay for the true costs of their actions (a core principle of economic policies such as pollution taxes), we find sufficient evidence in the literature to demonstrate that many other policy instruments can be used in combination with taxes and permits to ensure that the transport needs of the present generation can be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet any needs of their own.The policies and policy aspects considered in this paper broadly fall into three categories: physical policies, soft policies, and knowledge policies. All three aim to bring about changes in consumers’ and firms’ behaviour, but in different ways. The first category includes policies with a physical infrastructure element: public transport, land use, walking and cycling, road construction, and freight transport. We also consider the particular challenges for mobility in developing countries, and how these may be addressed. Soft policies, on the other hand, are non-tangible aiming to bring about behavioural change by informing actors about the consequences of their transport choices, and potentially persuading them to change their behaviour. These measures include car sharing and car pooling, teleworking and teleshopping, eco-driving, as well as general information and advertising campaigns. Finally, knowledge policies emphasise the important role of investment in research and development for a sustainable model of mobility for the future.The main findings can be summarised as follows.

Physical policies

An increase in the use of public transport, combined with a decrease in the use of private cars, can reduce traffic congestion and, more importantly, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, as public transport generally causes lower CO₂ emissions per passenger kilometre than private cars. Public transport fares are subsidised in most places, which can be justified by economies of scale and by the fact that public transport can reduce total road transport externalities. London, Singapore, Portland and Curitiba are all examples of good practice at government level, having achieved reliable, frequent and integrated public transport.Policies to increase public transport use must be part of an integrated policy. Integrated policy refers to integration across different modes of transport, different government objectives (such as the economy, health and the environment), considering the needs of different social groups, and coordinating action between the relevant government institutions. There is evidence that a lack of coordination can jeopardise the achievement of policy objectives.A sustainable model for transport policy also requires integration with land-use policies. These may be somewhat limited within the bounds of existing cities, but as cities grow and new cities are built, urban planners must put more emphasis on land use for sustainable transport in order to reduce congestion and CO₂ emissions. Sustainable land-use policy can direct urban development towards a form that allows public transport as well as walking and cycling to be at the core of urban mobility.Walking and cycling, which improve general health and produce no tailpipe emissions, constitute an excellent alternative to motorised transport on short-distance trips within towns and cities. The policies which can incentivise walking and cycling include crime reduction to make streets safer, well-maintained and clean pavements, attractive street furniture, safe crossings with shorter waiting times, dedicated cycle paths, showers in offices, and lower speed limits, to name but a few.Road construction and expansion used to be seen as one of the most promising ways to reduce traffic congestion. However, in the mid-1990s, the issue was reassessed and it was found that building and expanding roads, increased, rather than decreased, congestion, and ultimately induced higher levels of travel demand. The reason for this is that the extra capacity reduces the general cost of travelling and the less expensive the travel, the more it will be demanded. Regarding freight modal shift, road transport is much more polluting than rail per tonne-km of goods transported and therefore a shift towards greater use of rail in freight transport is desirable. Inadequate infrastructure is the main obstacle preventing this modal shift taking place.Developing countries face great mobility challenges: rural areas are often extremely poorly connected to transport infrastructure, such that, in contrast to the situation in developed countries, the benefits of road construction can strongly outweigh the total costs (including environmental ones). The main challenge, however, is to develop a solution to the problems arising from the combination of urbanisation and motorisation. Integration of transport and land-use policy will be key to rising to this challenge.

Soft policies

Car sharing and car clubs can also potentially reduce CO₂ emissions, although the aggregate reduction in congestion and emissions has not been measured with an adequate degree of precision in the literature. Teleworking and teleshopping can potentially reduce congestion and also CO₂ emissions. However, the evidence for this reduction is rather mixed, as it is unclear whether these measures lead to overall reductions in road transport.Eco-driving campaigns aim to inform and educate drivers in order to induce them to drive in a fuel-efficient and thus environmentally friendly way. There seems to be some consensus in the literature that eco-driving could lead to reductions in CO₂ emissions of around 10 per cent.Information and education policies have often been advocated as instruments which may affect behavioural change. We find in this paper that these types of measures are necessary, but not sufficient for behavioural change. Advertising and marketing may go a long way in changing peoples’ behaviour. In California, for example, Kahn (2007) finds the “Prius” effect: the Toyota Prius is preferred by consumers relative to other similarly green vehicles, probably due to extensive marketing and celebrity endorsements. Family life changes are also found to trigger changes in behaviour ( [Goodwin, 1989] and [106]). People whose lives are being changed by some important development (birth of a child, retirement, etc) tend to respond more to changes in the relative attractiveness of different transport modes. Advertising campaigns promoting a modal shift towards public transport, for instance, may thus be more successful if targeted at people in the process of important life transitions.

Knowledge policies

Research and Development is crucial for developing sustainable and low-carbon transport for the future, and it is essential that governments provide incentives to undertake R&D, so that new low-carbon technologies in the transport sector can be demonstrated and applied at a large scale.Finally, we consider the issue of policy combination and integration. There is evidence that the combination and integration of policies can lead to positive side-effects and synergies. Policy integration is crucial in order to rise to the challenges we face in moving towards a sustainable mobility model. We conclude that classical economic policies may be successfully combined with a number of policy measures discussed in this paper in order to achieve sustainability in transport.     

Workshop report - Public transport markets in development

Developing countries and countries in transition represent between 85% and 90% of the world’s population and face unique public transport challenges that are not necessarily present in developed countries. Issues such as the affordability and accessibility of public transport, funding support and capacity to implement are some of the challenges these countries face. Barriers to strategy implementation in these countries could be a failure to understand the broader business and social environment, poor leadership, a lack of inter-disciplinary and inter-implementer collaboration, and weak monitoring and feedback loops. Weak institutional frameworks are evidenced in inappropriate structures often resulting in institutional inertia and conflict. Over-promising of potential impacts and benefits together with a failure to develop sustainable funding mechanisms often lead to a lack of implementation. The workshop argued that different competition and ownership solutions are needed for a range of factors. This poses a challenge to the THREDBO community as it could mean that the traditional concepts are either not relevant or not usable in the majority of the world’s developing countries, or that the traditional approaches are relevant in many respects but need to be substantially extended and adapted to be applicable and usable in the rest of the world.     

“大船小证”成因及治理对策

随着我国水运市场快速发展,＂大船小证＂问题逐渐增多,给水上交通安全环境带来重大隐患,严重干扰了航运业、造船业的发展秩序。文中就＂大船小证＂产生的原因,危害,整治的难点以及对策措施进行探讨,望能更好地规范船舶检验,确保航运安全。     

船舶防止生活污水污染检查对策探讨

MARPOL附则IV已于2008年9月27日对所有国际航行船舶全面生效．文中主要通过对生活污水处理方法和工作原理以及排放标准的简要介绍,提出了海事部门应如何开展船舶生活污水处理的现场监督管理,并有针对性地提出管理建议,以期提高我国整体的履约能力。     

自动真空开关分相装置及改进建议

通过对自动真空开关分相装置结构形式、工作原理和功能的分析,针对其导致失去实用性的主要缺点,可采取有效的技术措施加以克服,使该方式的半自动相分段装置达到自动化、实用化目的,为此,提出建议性的改进意见。     

论中部地区的优势与发展对策

中部六省在我国区域经济发展的新构架中具有承东启西,接南进北的区位优势.实现中部的崛起,必须充分发挥中部的农林矿产资源优势、旅游资源优势、劳动力低成本优势等,使中部的资源优势尽快转化为经济优势,以加速中部地区的工业化进程.     

城市私人机动交通发展探讨

公共交通与私人机动交通是城市交通体系的两个发展方向,“公交优先”是城市交通发展的根本,而私人机动交通是公共交通的有力补充。     

基于MapInfo和MapX的导航电子地图实现

介绍基于Mapinfo制作我国某地电子地图的基本步骤和过程,采用在Visual C＋＋中集成MapX的方法对制作的某地电子地图进行二次开发,实现以地图为背景显示飞行参数、飞机计划航线和即时飞行信息等功能,完成导航电子地图的制作。     

伺服技术的应用与发展趋势

概述了伺服技术的发展过程和发展状况,对伺服技术的种类进行了对比,并对其应用进行了讨论,指出了其未来的发展趋势.     

长江下游通州沙水道和白茆沙水道演变关联性及治理建议

基于通州沙水道和白茆沙水道实测水文地形资料,分析本段历史演变、近期演变过程和两水道的演变关联性。在此基础上,提出通州沙水道和白茆沙水道治理对策,就治理关键部位和治理时机进行分析。分析表明:通州沙水道河道演变对白茆沙水道的影响逐渐减小,但由于徐六泾节点段对水流的束流、导流作用尚不够充分,通州沙水道的主流变化对白茆沙水道河道演变仍存在一定的关系。对于其治理,建议尽早守护通州沙——狼山沙左缘和白茆沙沙头。